Tubbs Jones' bill tackles health, environment link

It's a problem Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, says is more likely to happen in minority or low-income neighborhoods: people getting sick because of the environment in which they live.

Tubbs Jones, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y., introduced a bill last week that would create a national public-health tracking network to determine connections between harmful health effects and environmental conditions.

"The factories and dumping sites that emit pollutants are often located near communities with less political and economic power, and therefore less ability to protest," Tubbs Jones said. "The result is an elevated risk of exposure to harmful substances."

The bill also would increase research funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local projects studying environmental hazards. The legislation is backed by more than 40 health and environmental organizations, including the American Public Health Association.

Studies show people living in low-income neighborhoods have a higher risk of suffering from environmental health hazards, said Dr. Mac Crawford, a professor of public health at Ohio State University. This is because factories tend to locate where land is cheaper.